Celsius' Tear
by Ichibod Ricct
Summary: Ugh... the beans are a bit too salty...
1. Leaving Home

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: I bet you haven't ever seen anything like this.**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Tales of Symphonia. If I did, I would take the Play Station 2 versions off the shelves.**

* * *

"So, this is the summoner who formed a pact with Volt? Pathetic!" exclaimed an angry Kuchinawa. He sheathed his sword and slung the sheath over his back.

An exhausted Sheena, kneeling on one knee, catching her breath, shook her head. "I'm… I'm sorry, Kuchi…"

"For what? That you killed nearly everyone including my parents, trying to form a pact with Volt, saying you failed, but then, turn around and made a pact with him and seven others?"

"…"

"Or, being assigned to kill the Chosen of Slyvarant, but instead join her, and helped her, and now Meltokio does not want to have anything to do with us, and treats us, people of Mizuho, like half-elves?"

"…" Sheena hung her head, and sobbed quietly.

Lloyd drew his right sword, "Shut up!"

But, before Lloyd took another step, Kuchinawa pulled out a shuriken and held it above his head, like he was going to throw it. "One move, Irving, and this will splint Sheena's skull!"

"Then, go ahead and do it, then, if you hate me so much…" Sheena said, coldly.

Kuchinawa squinted his narrow eyes and stared back at Sheena, in a death stare. In a flash, Kuchinawa threw the spiral dart towards Sheena and into her shoulder. Sheena screamed, more out of shock than pain, and collapsed to the ground, grasping her right shoulder with her left hand.

"Sheena!" Lloyd shouted, rushing to her side.

"Sad…" Kuchinawa said, under his breath. He turned his back, and started to walk off…

…but, "Kuchi…nawa… wait," Sheena struggled to get out, between grunts of pain. "Why?"

"I already told you…" He reached into his pocket and pulled out a bell with a red ribbon. "Something struck me as odd, though, Sheena. What ever happened to Corrine? Why do you have his bell?"

"He died…"

"Did he?" He tossed the bell at Sheena's feet, who was now being helped by Lloyd. "I guess that means you have no more friends left, does it?"

Sheena bent down and picked up the jingling trinket. Kuchinawa turned and was about to walk off. "Wait, Kuchinawa…" Sheena called out, staggering away from Lloyd, holding her shoulder, which was bleeding through her fingers. "Don't go…"

"Why, Sheena, I have never seen you so persevering, before. You usually go back and hide behind shadows when you fail." He swung his arm in the air in a horizontal path. "Go home!"

"Kuchi…nawa…" she fell to her knees.

Kuchinawa then vanished in a clouding mist, with no expression of remorse in his eyes.

Sheena started to feel faint. She felt herself get picked up by Lloyd. "Come on, let's get you back and stop the bleeding along the way.

"Lloyd… never mind… thanks…" she fainted, and Lloyd helped her onto the boat and laid her down, and wrapped a cloth around her wound. He grabbed the oar and rowed off.

Up on a high tree branch, far from the waters below, Kuchinawa sat watching them drift through the rivers current. "Do not come looking for me, Sheena. If you and I were to meet again, I'll kill you…" He stood up and looked at the smoke rising from the woods of where Mizuho is. "Same goes to you Orochi… and anyone else there… I don't want to go back!" He punched the tree trunk next to him, in frustration and confusion, rather than anger.

He withdrew his hand. His knuckles were cracked and bleeding. Ignoring the pain, he sighed.

Now, he had to go see a doctor…


	2. Healing

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: Chapter Two coming at ya! By the way, if you are a fan of the band Gorillaz, well… they have some great songs, no?**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Tales of Symphonia? … do you say it like "symphony" or "synonym"? **

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Kuchinawa wrapped a piece of cloth around his bleeding hand. "Damn it, Kuchinawa! Keep hurting yourself like this and you'll get an infection!" he shouted to himself, but not so loud that it echoes. He jumped from the tree to the ground and looked back over the cliff to take one more look at Mizuho.

After a few hours of wandering through the fields of Tethe'alla, he reached his destination of Ozette. He walked past a small abandoned house where there was a grave marked with an axe. Neglecting the burial ground, in terms of speculation, he wandered up a tree branch to the upper part of town, where he could see the remnants of the destruction, where Yggdrasil is to blame.

"Now, where is that inn?" he asked to no one, walking through the pile of debris, still clutching his hand.

Noticing a conspicuous broken board sticking up from the ground, Kuchinawa confirmed its prophetic outcome for landing like that must have been for him to kick it. Rearing back, he ran forward, at full speed, and slammed his instep into the wood. It rocketed out from the ground, carrying some dirt up with it. It was a very flat piece, so it did not travel far, but, its landing was signaled with a ding. Yes, ding.

"Huh?" Kuchinawa ran up the small hill in the middle of the small broken town, to find the … former inn, a bell, still on its pole, swinging, from when the board hit it.

"Bingo." Kuchinawa scavenged through the destroyed desk to try to find a first aid kit, and food, if he was lucky. He found a much mangled dresser, with a drawer hanging haphazardly. He pulled the drawer out, and then the dresser fell apart, finally able to rest in pieces. Kuchinawa swept a hand through to find a bandage and gauze.

He cast the drawer away, as there were no more medicinal supplies or appliances left in it, and sat down, and pulled his blood-drenched glove off. He pulled small plant from his pockets; he picked up from his venturing from Mizuho to here, and cracked the stem, where syrup slowly leaked out. He squeezed it all out, as little of it, into his healthy hand.

He held it at the ready; he clinched up his face, and slapped the syrup into his wound. He screamed, but quickly muffled it. The medicine stung unmercifully, but subsided a second later. He dropped the stem and placed the bandage over his knuckles as a white substance covered his hand. He then fastened the gauze over his knuckles and palm, like boxers do with hand wraps. Standing up, he noticed a small pool of water, hopefully clean. Regardless, he washed his glove in it, scrubbing the blood stains out with his fingers.

Once clean, he slid it back over his hand, carefully. It was still hurting.

Now, that that ordeal was over, Kuchinawa set his sights north, for Flanoir …but he needed a boat.

He decided to head, then, south, for Meltokio.


	3. False Accusation

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: Chap'ta tree, up and ready for reading!**

**DISCLIAMER: I don't own ToS. (That means Tales of Symphonia. Learn it.)**

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_Leaving the ruined village of Ozette… I decided for Meltokio to find a boat… _thought Kuchinawa, as if he was writing in a diary.

He was now approaching the entrance to the woods. It was nighttime, but Kuchinawa had no fear, whatsoever of the supposedly haunted Gorrachia Forest.

Just like how he was treating everyone a few weeks ago, he blew off the rumors…

…and ventured inside.

Kuchinawa wandered through the woods, aimlessly, with the feeling of no reason to be alive. He kept his head down. There was no purpose for keeping mind and body alert. Monsters haven't been seen in the forest, when the four earthquakes shook.

While walking, a rock came within his view. With no regards, he kicked it.

It landed with a metallic clink. Kuchinawa looked up, upon hearing this alien noise in an area primarily of wood, to see a few Papal Knights standing there.

Kuchinawa stared at them. "Is there a problem, Officers?"

"Yes," said the one closets to him. "You were seen around the scene of the obliterated town of Ozette, doing some peculiar…things."

"What was I seen doing, precisely?" Kuchinawa demanded. "How long ago was this tip of yours obtained?"

"In recent hours. More like five to be exact."

The Knight behind him slammed the butt end of his halberd into the dirt. "Enough of this. You're coming with us to be interrogated, or will be forced under arrest."

Kuchinawa sighed an exasperated sigh. "Very well. I'll go quietly, if you take me to the end of the forest, closets to Sybak." Kuchinawa held out a hand. "Agreed?"

The Knight nodded, and waved his hand as a signal to encircle Kuchinawa. One took his sword from him. Kuchinawa allowed it. He had other weapons…

A few hours later, the group had reached the exit. The lead Knight declared they'd rest here for the night.

While they were stripping themselves of their armor, so they could sleep comfortably, Kuchinawa asked, "Excuse me, but what was it I was theoretically seen doing?"

"You were pulling bodies from the ground and freezing them in ice sculptures," said the same exact Knight that was expressing the first impatience with Kuchinawa back in the forest. "Your idea of a sick art?"

"No. I can't make ice sculptures in the middle of a warm season." Kuchinawa sighed. "It does sound like an art I'd like."

"Well, the figure was cloaked and masked, much like you, and we saw you leaving the village when the ice stopped," said a Knight, splashing water on his face to wash.

Kuchinawa thought back. He did not remember, or even recall, a cloaked and masked figure, making ice sculptures with the dead bodies left over of the catastrophe, in the same time period of him.

"Still," said the impudent Knight, who took his sword. "You're coming with us."

"I have not ever committed a crime…" Kuchinawa smirked, "yet."

"What ill do you speak?" said the same Knight. "Come on, now. You filthy Mizuho."

"I'm tired of your mouth." Kuchinawa flung a shuriken into his neck. Blood squirted out his neck like fountain, as his increasingly life-less body flew to the ground.

The other Knights, while astonished, did not hesitate to come after Kuchinawa.

Kuchinawa effortlessly pried his sword from the Knight's dead fingers. "You should have kept your armor…" Kuchinawa cut through one Knight "…ON!"

He dropped to his knees holding his side, while Kuchinawa spun around, his blade clearing the Knights head from his shoulders.

The head fell and bounced on the ground, and the body fell to the left.

A third Knight, with the long blade held high, struck for Kuchinawa.

The Mizuho warrior moved deftly to the side, where before another Knight could lift his weapon already had two quick stabs in his gut.

Kuchinawa took the long-bladed weapon and thrust it into the previous attacking Knight.

The fifth and final Knight stood, scared, unable to move. This strange man was not the one making horrific scenes with the dead. No. What he got was something worse. A mistake that ultimately cost his partners lives, and quite possibly his own.

Kuchinawa turned to look at the Knight. "Do you like music, Knight?"

"I…do…," he struggled to say.

"Then, sing for me." Kuchinawa threw another star into the Knight's shoulder. He screamed. Kuchinawa rushed forth and stuck his sword through the chest. Blood exploded everywhere. After a few seconds, Kuchinawa withdrew his blade and kicked the Knight over onto his back.

Kuchinawa wiped he blood from his blade and sheathed it.


	4. Recollection

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: Thank you Fenrir Hellfyre and Strayflame for the reviews.**

**Mike Jones: Who?**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own ToS.**

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Within a day, Kuchinawa reached Sybak, only stopping to eat a snake, to keep the energy flowing.

Kuchinawa entered the school town, in mid afternoon, and, as expected, was empty. Everyone was in their classes.

Kuchinawa looked into the inn, near the entrance.

He opened the door, sounding a small bell placed at the top of the threshold. A small young woman, placing jars on a shelf, behind the desk, turned around on her stool. "Oh, hello, sir." She stepped from her stool and walked up near him, her hands folded on her pelvic area, like a maid. "May I help you?"

Kuchinawa stared at her for a second, and then scoffed.

The woman cocked her head, not understanding this gentleman's rude gesture, unsure of what he wanted.

"I want a bath… a hot bath."

The woman hurried off towards the backroom that was concealed behind a curtain, which she swiped out of her way.

Kuchinawa seated himself in a chair, behind some big plant. He slouched in the chair. Perfect posture was no code that Kuchinawa followed when in public.

He dozed off, but quickly woke when the girl came back with cleaning supplies. "You're bath is ready, Mr…" she trailed off.

"Rhett," Kuchinawa lied.

He walked into the backroom, the woman following, where there was a big wooden tub with water, steam rising.

Kuchinawa took the cleaning stuff. "I will wash myself, thank you." The woman look a little relieved, but mostly disappointed. Kuchinawa paid no attention to this.

When the woman was gone, Kuchinawa took off his clothing, and then dipped into the pool.

He slid down into the pool so only his head was above the water. He drifted to thoughts of when he was younger. When he met Sheena, how they were friends, understanding how beautiful she was, and a lot of much better looking boys than Kuchinawa would always try and hook up with her. But, she always liked Kuchinawa more. Probably, because he's four years older than her?

He was always sure she just looked up to him as a mentor. But, she had a thing for him. When she was sixteen she asked to engage in love-making with him, which Kuchinawa graciously accepted. He didn't know why he did.

He had really no interest in her, other than a friend…

…he also remembered how he was such an angry child. Whenever he was in moments like this, in the bath tub, he always told himself to try to make himself happier, but, like everyone else, when back in reality, he didn't.

But, when Sheena failed to form a pact with Volt, and town was practically like Ozette, and when Kuchinawa lost his parents… Sheena tried to make it up to Kuchinawa, but he always said not to worry, or it wasn't her fault.

While secretly, he wanted to kill her.

And, his brother didn't seem too affected by it, unlike Kuchinawa. In actuality, he did hurt just as much.

But, Kuchinawa did not know this, however.

At that moment on, he was mean to everybody, except, of course, Sheena… or at least not, yet.

She would always come visit him when he was sitting in the groves surrounding the town. No words were spoken. She just comforted him. But, as these meetings continued on, Kuchinawa began to think that the reason Volt killed almost everyone, including his parents, was because she failed to form a pact with Volt.

…because she failed… to form… a pact with… Volt…

Kuchinawa began to dislike more and more.

Until, finally, fought her… and won.

And, the worst part, he thought, was… when he saw his life-long friend, turned center of vengeance, hurt, from the battle, bleeding profusely, he felt…

… no remorse.


	5. Beyond Good And Evil

**ATHOUR'S NOTE: Seven reviews? Not bad, not bad.**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own ToS.**

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Kuchinawa stepped out of the tub and dried himself off, with the towel he pulled from the wicker basket.

He pulled on his clothes, and stepped out, casually skirting the curtain from his view.

"No, please don't," the girl, whimpered, with a skinny guy, with a beady looking face, holding a knife to her neck.

"Just give the money, then I won't hurt you." He grabbed her shirt collar stuck it a little farther, a droplet of blood birthed through the newly punctured hole in her skin.

Kuchinawa sighed. The man turned his head to see the man from Mizuho.

The man yelled, "Get on the ground, and stay there."

Kuchinawa didn't move.

"Come on, pal. You don't want to see such an innocent sweet girl die, do you?"

Kuchinawa remained silent.

The man tightened his grip on the blade on the girl, making her squeal. "Don't be a hero, pal."

"Go ahead, kill her. I just want to leave."

The girl began to cry. The man jumped over the counter the side of the girl. "Very well."

Kuchinawa walked slowly by. The man, irked, held his knife out at Kuchinawa. "Hey, hurry it up, will ya?"

Kuchinawa turned and simultaneously hit the guy's wrist and back of the hand, making the knife fly from his grip. Kuchinawa, then grabbed his hand, and pulled toward himself, bending the man's wrist.

The man groaned in pain, and then screamed, when Kuchinawa broke his wrist.

Kuchinawa let go of his hand. The man sunk down to his knees, holding his wrist, trying to scream, but couldn't. Kuchinawa grabbed the man by the hair on his above his forehead and pulled him up.

"Now," Kuchinawa began, "this is the part where the good guy, says I hope you learned your lesson, leaves you. But, I'm not a good guy. I'm one that finishes the job."

The man's eyes grew wide in shock. Kuchinawa pulled him down and turned him around. Kuchinawa wrapped an arm around the man's neck and squeezed. The man struggled to get free, but wasn't as strong as Kuchinawa.

The girl watched on horror as she saw a man's life slowly slip away, and was also seeing how it was done.

The man choked, then his head fell limp. Kuchinawa let go of the man and stood up. The girl, scared, but relieved her attacker was gone, said," Thank you, very much, sir." She bowed. "How can I…I ever thank you."

Kuchinawa grabbed her and drew his knife onto her. "Give me your money."

The girl squealed in fear, and hastily grabbed the jar, from on the shelf under the counter, and set it on the desk top.

Kuchinawa grabbed the jar and let go of her. He broke open the jar and shoved the paper money into his pockets.

He opened the door and said, "You should learn how to defend yourself." He stepped out. "Thanks for the Gald. Auf Wiedersehen.!"

Kuchinawa slammed the door shut.

The girl, still terrified, stood still for six seconds, then, noticing the dead man on the floor, broke down into tears.


	6. Early Warning Unacknowledged

**AUTHUOR'S NOTE: Hey, Hey, Hey! Chapter Six. Strayflame, you could have saved two dollars!**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own ToS.**

* * *

Kuchinawa did not stay in Sybak long, for when he left the hotel; he noticed some authority figures wandering around.

Kuchinawa calmly walked out of the city, then, making sure he wasn't being watched, ran fast and far.

In an hour, only stopping once to catch his breath, he came to the bridge. The Grand Tethe'alla Bridge.

Therefore, he began the long trek across the bridge.

Along the way, Kuchinawa started to feel a chill. He pulled his clothes closer to his body to warm up and just kept going. He knew cold winds often would blow across the seas and seaways during the spring.

Ongoing the walk, Kuchinawa began to acknowledge the breeze that was blowing around…was getting colder and colder.

He soon started to slowly droop down, as the frigid wind made it harder to stand upright and stay warm.

"What's going on?" he asked himself out loud.

"I'm trying to make you turn around," Kuchinawa quickly pulled out his knife, hearing the all-of-a-sudden voice from nowhere.

"Where are you?" Kuchinawa demanded.

"There are Knights up ahead."

"Thanks, but I still want to know where the hell you are!"

"I'm up here."

Kuchinawa looked up to see a figure in a thick parka standing on one of the tall suspension pillars of the bridge.

"There he is, raise the bridge!" a random voice called out.

Kuchinawa then saw several Cardinal Knights, charging at him, pikes drawn. He turned to see the bridge behind was rising up.

"Shit!" Kuchinawa ran the increasing slope of the drawing bridge. He was moving fast, but the bridge was faster.

"We've got him, now!" Kuchinawa heard another voice say.

The bridge was getting harder and harder to scale. Kuchinawa jumped and grabbed the top of the bridge and pulled himself up, then quickly jumped to the other side.

He made it across the bridge, but he hit the end with his waist. He grunted in pain, as his momentum kept pulling him over, and then he plummeted for the floor. He pulled his knife out and stuck it into the wooden paneling of the bridge end, he was falling into.

His drop, slowed, and then stopped. He was only eight feet up in the air. He planted his feet and pushed off, yanking his knife out. He dropped the rest of the way. Despite his aching waist and stomach from the impact of the collision at the top of the bridge, he managed to save himself, from the eight foot drop; not very well, but he broke nothing.

"Damn it, he got away!" a voice called out. "You can't run forever."

Kuchinawa just huffed and gripped his side.

He looked back up the pillar, but the figure wasn't there anymore.

He picked himself up, and turned to look the other way of the bridge, and noticed an ice-sculpture. A swan. With something inside it.

"What the hell?" Kuchinawa picked up the small piece of art. He then noticed that the trinket inside was a human finger.

Shocked, Kuchinawa dropped the swan. It smashed on the ground; pieces of ice littered a small portion of the ground.

…the head broke off.


	7. Otherworldly Substance

**AUTHOUR'S NOTE: Alright, then…**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own ToS.**

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That night… Kuchinawa sat around a fire and makeshift camp, several miles away from Sybak, in the woods.

The block of ice, propped up with a few sticks, over the fire, was sweating rather profoundly, but no sign of decrease in size.

Perplexed, Kuchinawa quickly snatched the ice, from the sticks prison and fire. He took a well-jagged rock and wedged it into the dirt. He held the ice up at chest level and slammed it upon the rock. It shattered, into several chunks. He picked up the finger, and studied it. It was small, smooth, with a tiny fingernail. It was an index finger. An index finger of a child.

Kuchinawa sighed and flung the appendage over his shoulder. He scooped up the ice fragments and dropped them into the fire.

He stretched out on the ground and stared at the fire.

_Fucking Knights… How am I supposed to get a boat, now…? _

He rolled over, and tried to get some sleep. He was aware that the fire was still going.

"Let it burn half the field," he yawned. "Some trees need a lot of heat to release seeds."

Asleep, he fell to…

Kuchinawa awoke the next morning, with rays of the sun, raining through the tree branches and leaves.

He groaned and turned over, to his disappointment, to see the fire subsided and nothing, except the ground it was on, was burnt.

With a tired grunt, he hoisted himself up. A sparkle in the soot caught his eye. He kicked the ash to reveal the pieces of ice, still there.

"What the hell?"

He picked up the ice shards and put them in a satchel. He packed up his other stuff, and headed for Sybak, to try and find a half-elf to explain this phenomenon to him.

He burst through the thick brush on the edge of the forest, uprooting some small shrubs, as he ran on his marathon to Sybak. He was still tying his sword sheath around his shoulder…

Dark clouds were gathering together.

_Great…_ Kuchinawa thought. _It's going to rain…_

A flash of lightning, filled the sky, and a symphony of booming thunder filled his ears.

He had to hurry. He was sure there might be suspicion about him, even Sybak, with the man he killed, and the woman he threatened to kill. The meteorologists might be going out in this storm for some field study, at close to the entrance.

Finally, at Sybak, Kuchinawa didn't see anybody outside to study the weather. It was dark and raining heavily. He hid behind some boxes to catch his breath. He had run over four miles.

After a forty-five minute rest, he sat up and peered over the boxes to see if anyone was around.

Confirming no other presence, he left his hiding spot and walked over to the other entrance into the university.

He walked over the sewer entrances and came to the fourth one.

He opened it, and dropped in. He fell down into knee-deep water.

He stretched out his hands, for it was pitch black, and felt the side. He sloshed through the sewage water, until he felt a convex bump in the wall. He wrapped his hand around it and pulled open the stone door, to the side. He jumped from the water and onto the passage and walked through.

A few seconds later, he reached the back of a bookcase and kicked it down.

As it fell, books and various items flew from it, as the wooden shelf continued to the floor and landed with a loud crack. The three half-elves in the room gasped.

Kuchinawa, acting as if nothing happened, said, "I need you three to explain something to me." He pulled the satchel from within his outer robe and tossed it onto the table. "Open it up and tell me what it is that's inside."

The three half-elves didn't move.

Kuchinawa sighed in exasperation. "It's not an explosive. Now, open it!" He yelled.

The male half-elf slowly walked over the table and set his hands on the strings. He untied the knot and, before he unveiled what was inside, he asked, "How can I trust you that there isn't something dangerous in here?"

"Because," Kuchinawa began to explain. He grabbed the half-elf woman, by her green-hair, and pulled a star out and held it dangerously across her throat, as she whimpered in fear. "If you don't, she goes."

"Okay, okay, okay," the half-elf man cried. "J…Just don't do anything to her."

He tightened his grip on the bag strings and turned his head away from it, and yanked it opened.

Nothing happened… The half-elf man, exhaled deeply in relief.

Kuchinawa threw the woman to the ground. She yelped, but saved herself, with her hands. She stayed on the ground, still weeping, trying to recover from her near-death experience. She held her wrist, for it broke.

Kuchinawa walked over to the man, and grabbed him under his arms and, threw him to the ground next to the woman. The man quickly sat up, for he wasn't thrown directly to the ground, like the woman, and gently took the woman's hand to see where she broke it.

Kuchinawa stomped his feet at them. "Stop your sniveling and get back to your work." The man quickly stood up and helped the lady up and they went back to their test work.

Kuchinawa turned his direction the other half-elf woman.

But, before he spoke, "You just came down here to deliberately torture us, didn't you?" the half-elf woman asked, crossing her arms.

Kuchinawa cocked his head, "In this sack, is fragments of an item of peculiar properties. And, you will be wise to cease your defiant stand and tell me what they are." Kuchinawa said, in a threatening tone of voice.

"Fine. If you leave directly afterwards."

"Very well." Kuchinawa pulled one of the ice pieces from the satchel and tossed it to her.

"Ice?" she said, in a huffy tone.

The half-elf man then said, "Please Kate. Just do what he says." The other woman nodded in agreement, cradling her wounded wrist.

"Okay."

Kate took the ice from Kuchinawa and studied the ice under a microscope. After a few minutes, Kate turned and handed the ice chunks to Kuchinawa. "It's just ice."

"Bullshit! This ice doesn't melt!"

A loud band was then heard at the door. A voice on the other end yelled, "Keep quiet down there, half-elves!"

The lock clicked. Kuchinawa quickly ran out through the passageway.

Kate quickly erected the bookshelf back up against the threshold of the secret entrance.


	8. Mission

**AUTHOUR'S NOTE: … Nothing much to say.**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own ToS.**

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Kuchinawa fled from Sybak, as morning started to break. Kuchinawa ran some more, through the fields and steppes, away from the place.

"Wretched half-elves have probably sold me out, by now!"

He then gradually stopped running. His chest was burning. He then fell to the ground breathing hard. He had been exhausted even before he entered the university. His adrenaline had carried him this far, but was now drained to a husk.

Kuchinawa rolled onto his back, still breathing very hard. He untied the hood and mask from his face, to make the air circulation in and out his lungs more efficient.

After a few seconds and finally slowing the breathing, he opened his eyes to see that same figure in the parka, up in a tree.

"What…? You…?" Kuchinawa said, between breaths.

The figure jumped from the tree and, did not land, but slowly grinded to a halt a few feet off the ground. The air current came rushing after, forming a small cloud of dust, that came as quickly as it vanished. Kuchinawa looked at the figure, but could only see the eyes. Gentle… as they are.

Kuchinawa stared in awe-inspiring. He ceased to breath, for a moment.

"You can fly?" Kuchinawa spoke, in a relatively cracked voice.

"I can… to an extent," the figure replied.

Kuchinawa sat up. "What does that mean? Why are you wearing that?"

The figure said, "Same reason you hide your face."

"You just want to hide your face?"

"Indeed."

"Hmm…" Kuchinawa hummed.

Before he could ask anything else, the figure pushed him back to the ground, and stuck its hand in his robes.

"What are you doing?" Kuchinawa kicked the cloaked being off him. "Hey, I'm not sexually attracted to other men, sorry."

"I'm not a man," the figure responded, with a chuckle at the end.

Kuchinawa's eye widened.

"I merely want those ice fragments back." She stuck out her gloved hand.

Kuchinawa pulled the satchel out. "You made that ice swan, didn't you?"

"I did."

"Why?"

"I like to make life-like statues of extinct animals."

"No, that's not want I wanted to hear," Kuchinawa scoffed.

The mysterious woman turned, ignoring that last statement. "Meet me in the inn at the city of Flanoir. Do you know where it is located?"

"Yes," Kuchinawa stood up. "It's located in the middle of the highest peaks in those icy fjords in the northeastern most of the ocean."

"Very good." She started to walk off.

"Stop!" Kuchinawa shouted.

"If you need transportation, I'm sure you'll figure out a way."

"No, that's not what I wanted to ask you," Kuchinawa said, angrily.

"If you wish to know who I am, meet me at Flanoir."

"Would you shut up and let me speak, god damn it!" Kuchinawa shouted. The woman turned to face him. "Do you want your ice pieces back?"

"No, give them to me there." She turned back and looked out over the fields. "You have a week to get to Flanoir, then," she turned back around, but Kuchinawa was gone.

She looked around, but did not see him. She smiled, "Good luck…"

His mask and hood caught her eye. She picked them up and sniffed them, and sighed. "He doesn't wash his hair…"

She opened up a pocket and stuffed the clothing items in it.


End file.
